Acca Faustulus
Summary Once a covert research station of the Inqisition, this world is engulfed in a swirling warp-storm and is cut off from the rest of the galaxy. History In year 738 of M38 Eva Alcestis, an Inquisitor of the Ordos Xenos was dispatched to investigate a piece of archeotech reported by a surveyor team before mysteriously going missing. Accompanied by the newly formed 28th Calistus and a small contingient of enginseers, she set down on the planet on a continant in the northern hemisphere and began investigating the excavation site and the disappearance of the surveyors. A small outpost was built to house the investigation and shortly the remains of the surveyors and the archeotech was discovered. The artifact became known as the Silicis Novos and was a closely guarded secret. It was at this time that the investigators discovered what had killed the surveyors. A reconaissance team had been surveying the geography of the planet and had come to a peninsula on the eastern fringe of the continent. It was there that they discovered an Eldar Webway. The team barely had time to vox in their report when the attack came and the team were dead before they had realised what had happened. This was the precurser to a one hundred strong Eldar attack on the research station. The 28th Calistus outnumbered them three-to-one, but they were inexperienced and found it hard to compete with the ancient Eldar. The xenos attackers fought hard, using hit-and-run tactics. Over the next eight monthes they continued to break down the defenders and were only beaten due to Imperial reinforcements from the 15th Atarin. Driven back, the Eldar disappeared as quickly as they came. The Imperial Guard moved to destroy the webway but found it had gone. During the conflict many more xenos artefacts had been found had been taken to the research station for investigation. With support from the Adeptus Mechanicus, their work carried on in secret and the Imperial Guardsmen remain oblivious to what it is that they were guarding. Over the next decade a colony emerged and the population grew. The populace seemed to be relatively safe and the reinforcements were reassigned. A local Imperial Guard unit was founded and the 1st Faustulus was born. This regiment had been carefully raisd by the Inquisitor and the Adeptus Mechanicus representatives on the planet. They had been trained solely to defend the research facility and the assosiated communities, with a training regime designed entirely by the Inquisitor for that purpose. With the reinforcements gone, the numbers of the defenders had been cut by two thirds and it was at that time that the Eldar struck again. Nobody was sure where they had come from, but they had come fast. The numbers of the Eldar were six times that of their first force but the defenders had been trained solely for this and this dug in hard. This ignited a decade-long campaign for domination of the planet that only ended through the most horrific of accidents. The day the war for Acca Faustulus ended was as bloody as any other in that long campaign, but certainly more desperate. The Eldar now held two thirds of the planet; the defenders had been bottled in and a detachment of the defending regiment had been forced to leave the planet to defend against an oncoming Ork Waaagh. An Eldar harlequin unit had infiltrated the research station, forcing a portion of the defenders from the front lines. They braced themselves for a final push from the xenos, but none came. The Eldar weren't there. Meanwhile, inside the facility, the inner labs had been reached. Nobody can say whether it was intentional or not, but the history of that Imperial world ended with the same thing that had began it, the Silicis Novos. An immense warpstorm flared in to existence around the facility, growing exponentially until it had engulfed the entire planet. Wreathed in warpstorms, nearly all life on the planet was extinguished. Survival There were few survivors after that terrible disaster. The former Imperial colony had been all-but destroyed and less than one hundred people had survived. They were mostly non-military personel and were ill-equiped to handle such a crisis. A few beurocrats and tech-priests survived and tried to rally the survivors, but found it difficult when faced with the world they now found themselves living in. The sky was no longer a pale blue, but a swirling purple of warp energy and the landscape of the planet shifted and melted periodically. Structure began to form and disappear seemingly at random. More curious still was that they seemed to be a mix of structures, both alien and foreign. Buildings would appear, half Imperial and half xenos as if melted together. Creatures appeared from time to time; some monstrous, some familiar, some alien and sometimes hybrids as if two creatures had been melted together like the buildings. The planet became a cauldron of creation, as if the entire galaxy was being reflected and disseminated before them on this tiny world. The changes frightened many and the troubled populace was menaced by these apparitions. The manifestations seemed to be a melding of warp-stuf and reality and the layers came and went, changing everything that spawned on this world until they were entirely physical, alien hybrids of things both familier and exotic, like layers of paint gathering to form a complete image. Over time the survivors learned to cope with the world they were now trapped on, staying together in small communities to stay alive. Over the generations the world continued to change and the people forgot the old ways of the Emperor's regime. They learned to navigate the constantly shifting landscape and grew accustomed to their new lives, scavaging what they could and making do. Some wise men began to lead the villages and claimed that they could hear the call of the planet, that they could lead their people to safety and the people obliged them. The Call of The Planet What chance event that led to the discovery of the nature of the planet, nobody is sure, but what is clear is that the planet was responding to the people living there. Where there was fear, there was horror and where there was hope and happiness, there was beauty. The wise men that led the villages were men of kindness and calm and where they dwelled, the people were likewise. In those places of hope the landscape became less monstrous. Beautiful and remarkable plant-life began to appear and the creatures became less frightening. The wise men realised that they existed in symbiosis with the planet. The planet reflected their hearts and spirits and with that they realised that the planet was not there to hurt them. It was simply confused. They referred to the planet as Gaia Synergen, an emerging child-like god of creation. The wise men preached that the planet god needed to be nurtured and that it would be their actions that would determine what kind of god the planet would become. These wise men became known as the Gaigen and would become the founders of the Otium Vita, a religion that was formed to nurture and guide the planet. They encouraged the people to live in peace and to nurture all life. They encouraged creativity and hope and taught that they and the planet were each reflections of each other. Peaceful meditation, the creating of art and the caring of each other became the way of life for the people and they called themselves The Planet-Kin. In doing so they lived in peace, for not only did the landscape shift and change less, but boons were granted by the planet. Crops were plentiful and delicious. Plant-life was beautiful and wonderous and the creatures that spawned became less monstrous. In time some of these creatures displayed sentience and a peaceful disposition, a reflection of the Planet-Kin and they were welcomed in to the communities by the people, for gone were the xenophobic ways of their forefathers and the communities thrived. The Others Not all were so fortunate, however. In the south there had also been survivors but far fewer in number. They had found themselves in a world of fear and uncertainty like those in the north, but they did not have the benefit of wisdom or safety in numbers. They existed as individuals and small groups and fell to competing with one another for resources. They became aggresive and feral in their manner. They scavanged resources, weapons and food and competed with each other as much as they did with the planet-spawn. As they regressd, so did their surroundings. The landscapes became darker and more alien, as did the creatures inhabiting the area. At the centre of this area was the Living Cathedral, a massive building that had emerged over time. It was a fusion of buildings and life. It had stained glass windows, obsidian walls, obscure and contradictory architecture and pulsed with organic matter of varying and shifting colours. Tentacles and other mutant limbs sprawled out from seemingly random places and a large, bulbous eye sat on the widest wall, constantly shifting it's focus, watching silently. From this place came horrors and aliens. Some dissapeared entirely as the landscape shifted while some simply changed. The creatures were a blend of alien organic matter and warpstuff and as the world shifted, the warp stuff would disappear, leaving the organic. More warp-stuff and matter would become part of them and which each shift more matter accrued. In time these creatures became wholly physical, collections of organic material. Some were little more than masses of flesh, while some were entirely functional creatures. Furthermore, on rare occasion some would seem to display an emerging sentience and they would seem to delight in stalking the horrified humans. These people bred when they were able and formed small clans. Over time they became crueler and more violent and would engage in violent attacks for sport as much as for resources. They also fell prey to the creatures inhabiting the area. Mindless monsters would kill hunting parties, while the more intelligent ones would kidnap the humans and keep them for themselves. The raiders would assume that those taken were eventually killed, until the childen began emerging. It was clear where they had come from. They bore some of the aestetics of the human form, while also displaying some of the alien features of the monsters that had kidnapped their human parents. Their mindset was often utterly alien. Some spoke in incomprehensible languages, some delighted in murder and torture and many simply displayed sociopathic mindsets. These children lead raids on the humans and would eventually be able to subjugate several of the clans, taking them for themselves. As the years wore on, the clans competed and warred with each other and became the murdering aliens they had fought against. Conflict It was inevitable that the two groups would eventually meet. Both peoples explored, increasing their territories. One side of the continent was a place of lush plantlife and beautiful buildings, while the other was a place of darkness and twisted architecture, with the land between them changing in kind as the two peoples expanded their lands across it. When the two peoples met, it was a chance encounter between two small parties. The Planet-Kin had sent foragers and priests to bless the land, to pray for the planet to have peace. The others were a raiding party, looking for resources to scavange. The raiders were armed and strong and immediatly fell upon the Planet-Kin, murdering them mercilessly. They took back with them stories of easy targets and the valuables looted from the corpses. As word got out, each of the clans plotted to find these people and strike them first. The first party to find the Planet-Kin were of a clan of bloodthirsty warriors and encountered the defenseless people in an outlying village. The inhabitants never had a chance and nearly everybody was killed instantly. The rest were taken as slaves to be sold or tortured except for one man, who ran to warn his people. Over the next month many more raids took place. The Planet-Kin first tried to negotiate, which ended in more of their deaths. They realised that they couldn't run and so the leaders of the Planet-Kin communities gathered to discuss what to do about these "Dark-Kin." The Grey Thorns After much debate the leaders of the communities realised that they could either surrender or fight. This was met with disapproval, for fighting would mean th end of their way of life and would lead to the pollution and perversion of the planet's spirit. Some argued that surrender would lead to a worse perversion and that hey could only minimise the damage. It was then that one man stepped forward. He was a young man, barely of age. He had elfen features and a serene temprement. His name was Lucius Ebner and he offered the gathered leaders a compromise. He promised to take volunteers and to use them to fight the invaders. He said that he would give up the life of peace and hope, so that others may hold on to it. He would take the volunteers and they would live on the outskirts of the Planet-Kin settlements so as not to corrupt their paradise and to stand in the way of the Dark-Kin. He said that he would be the thorn of the rose and that he would protect that rose from those who might pluck it. Seeing no other choice, the leaders agreed and promised Lucius whatever resources he needed. That very night Lucious set out and began to speak to the people, gathering volunteers from the villages and towns and by the morning he had assembled four hundred men and women of various ethnicities and sizes. He then went to the techno-magi, the descendants of the enginseers and they forged for him elegant but powerful weapons. They were granted las-lances; light, sleek and graceful firearms and could unleash a bolt of searing light . The people came together to wish the warriors well and they fashioned for them uniformed fatigues of pale grey and white, and each uniform bore an image on the shoulder of a white rose surrounded by thorns. And so Lucius had founded The Grey Thorns, protectors of the Planet-Kin. With supplies and well-wishes from the people, they left and built village-like fortifications around the towns called Edge Forts. There they lived, training themselves and forever watching. It was not long before they would be put to the test and they defended their people from the Dark-Kin's raids and in time the raids grew fewer and fewer. The Grey Thorns would take the fight to the raiders, meeting them halfway so as to not corrupt the land with their violence. This led to an unnofficial zone where most battles were held known as The Borderlands. To this day The Grey Thorns stand watch, protecting the lands of the Planet-Kin, while the Planet-Kin make pilgrimages to the Edge Forts to pray for the soldiers and offer them blessings of peace and happiness, protecting their soldiers souls and the people are protected by them. The Planet Today Both sides still fight to this day, with the Dark-Kin launching raids in to the Planet-Kin's territory. The raiding parties tend to be less organised than The Grey Thorns though make up for it with ferocity and brutality. The planet still shifts and changes, although mostly in Dark-Kin territory. New structures, creatures and plant-life appear periodically, meaning that there is always something to scavenge or hunt. There are few pure humans left on Acca Faustulus. The Planet-Kin are not xenophobic and so have no problem breeding with the non-humans. The gifts of Gaia Synergen grant life to all those that seek it and the Planet-Kin are often blessed with many children, regardless of the species of the partners involved. The Dark-Kin are of mixed species but their legacy is based on the subjugation of others. There are apparitions and monsters with a will and presence strong enough to bestow children on their sexual partners. While these are almost never products of loving relationships (save for those between two truly disturbed minds) these children are abominations and pass on their perverted heraldry to the next generation. Geography Below are the most significant locations on the main continent of Acca Faustulus: Planet-Kin Locations Melchior - Built upon the site of the original research station, this town is considered to be the capital of the Planet-Kin terrotories. Luken - A farm town which supplies a great deal of food to the other settlements. They grow a plant unique to the area known as the Karpos Root. It is a long, hairy shell containing a sweet, dough-like interior which can be eaten raw or baked to form pastries. The interior of the shell also contains a fleshy layer which can be refined in to a syrup which, when brewed properly, creates a mead-like drink with a taste reminiscient of fondant. Yang Gaia - The central temple of the Otium Vita church resides here. The grand temple is as much a museum as it is a place of prayer. Oran Firmir - The primary manufacturing centre for the Grey Thorns. The priesthood of the techno-magi create elegant and beautiful tools, uniforms and weapons for the soldiers defending them. Dark-Kin Locations Černobog - The location with the largest gathering of Dark-Kin settlements and home to it's largest clan: The Kalderkorn. The settlement is built around The Living Cathedral. Owniy - A chaotic merchant town declared neutral by the clans. Raiders gather here to buy and sell looted items, slaves, vices and information. Crime is rampant here and the town is lawless. Murder Hill - A town more haunted than most by apparitions. As a rite of passage, young raiders must spend three consecutive days and nights here. The ghosts of those slain are said to haunt the town. Other Locations The Borderlands - The neutral territories where battles between the Planet-Kin and Dark-Kin are held. Demogorgon Point - The place where the original webway portal was found. Ash Cre'Deas - Unknown to the inhabitants of the continent, The Eldar have an outpost and webway portal here. Farseers travel here for some unknown purpose. Beyond the Continent There is a legend of a man leaving to explore the other lands of the planet but was never heard from again. Other than this, there are no maps or records of what is beyond the sea. Acca Faustulus in Your Game Usage The planet is equally suited to role-playing, kill-team games and larger battles. With the counts-as rule, you can effectively field armies utilising the Imperial Guard or Sisters of Battle rules for the Planet-Kin and the Ork or Chaos Army rules for the Dark-Kin. With imagination most rules are conceivably convertable with the counts-as rule, with the possible exeption of the Necrons. However, with so much land left unexplored it is conceivable that a Necron, Chaos or Orkoid force could be present already or introduced to the planet. In addition, the Eldar are also present and have an outpost on the planet. Themes The initial design theme behind Acca Faustulus was a mix of Silent Hill and Fallout, mixing a haunting and unnatural setting with ruins, scavenging and survival. Category:Planets